Background to the Project
The Pebble Bed heathlands of East Devon, constitute a long low ridge forming a watershed between the Exe estuary to the west and the river Otter to the east. It has been categorized as an Area of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB) while the coast forms part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The area constitutes one of the largest areas of lowland heathland in the UK and has also been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Area for Conservation (SAC) and a Special Protection Area (SPA) with many rare species of plants and birds (see Cooper 2007). Most of the area has not been ploughed and it has a significant archaeological and historic resource. From the Devon Sites and Monuments Records (Devon County Council) and the National Monuments Reports (English Heritage Swindon) we know that at least twenty-six barrows and/or cairns mark this landscape (Fig. 1).
Figure 1. The distribution of bronze age barrows on the East Devon Pebblebed heathlands
As far as we can tell these were the first and the only surviving monuments to be constructed here, apart from the Iron Age hillfort, Woodbury Castle, and a roughly contemporary cross-ridge dyke associated with it. In addition to these prehistoric monuments there are a number of much more recent landscaping mounds on the heathlands along the B3179 Woodbury to Yettington road at Four Firs and elsewhere and two along the B3180 Exmouth road south of Black Hill. Some of these resemble Bronze Age barrows and were probably erected by Lord Rolle of Bicton in the eighteenth or nineteenth century in connection with the establishment of the landscaping of Bicton Park. There has been very little systematic archaeological research in this area since the 1930s going beyond a catalogue of some of the field monuments undertaken by Grinsell (1983) and no attempts have been made to interpret the field data in its landscape setting until this project (Tilley n.d. See The East Devon Landscape page). This area constitutes something of a ‘black hole’ in terms of archaeological research and most of what we do know is due to the pioneering efforts of George Carter (see George Carter and the archaeology of East Devon). One of the main reasons why there has been so little archaeological research in this area, we suggest, is because the attention of archaeologists in this part of south-west England has always been directed to Dartmoor with its well preserved Bronze Age settlements and spectacular stone monuments.
Barrow excavations and the work of G.E.L. Carter
At least two of the Bronze Age barrows or cairns have been previously dug into or excavated. A flat riveted bronze axe together with a stone shaft hole battle axe in The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter are said to have been found in a barrow at Yettington (possibly one of two barrows near to the B3179 to the south-west of Uphams Plantation (Fig. 1: 21-2). Most of what we know about the Bronze Age archaeology of the Pebblebed heathlands is a result of the work undertaken by the amateur archaeologist and geologist G. E. L. Carter primarily during the 1930s. He excavated a cairn (Woodbury e) at SY 0508 8737 300m north-west of Kettle Plantation in 1930 (Fig 1: 16). Within the cairn he found a pattern of pebbles arranged in it in a geometric form about fifteen centimetres below the surface. A ring of pebbles surrounded the upper edge of the cairn and a circular pattern of pebbles and an elipse was found at the centre. He dug a central shaft into the barrow about 1 m wide which showed that it was composed of alternating layers of pebbles and sandy soil. Within the excavation shaft Carter recorded three small pebble cairns at different levels beneath the original ground surface, each associated with large and rare blue stones (see Blue Stones pages). From the second of these he recovered early Bronze Age Beaker sherds and a barbed and tanged arrowhead (now on display in the Fairlynch Museum, Budleigh Salterton). The area surrounding the cairn was subsequently cleared of vegetation in 1936-7 and it was discovered that the cairn itself was surrounded by a pebble pavement or ‘carpet’ of pebbles on all sides extending out from it for about 15 metres (Carter 1936) (Figs. 2 and 3).
Figure 2. Carter’s section through the Woodbury e cairn
Figure 3. Photograph taken by Carter of the Woodbury e barrow showing Central cairn and pebble skirt or platform around it. Source: Carter 193
Pebble mounds
In addition to this excavation Carter investigated during the 1930s a series of pebble mounds, which do not appear to be cairns, in the sense of being used as burial mounds, on Woodbury and Aylesbeare Commons (Carter 1936; 1938). Unlike the much larger Bronze Age barrows (which he termed landscape mounds because of their high visibility in the landscape) these smaller mounds may occur in groups of up to twenty or more. He states that about ‘thirty spots have been excavated’ on Woodbury Common (Carter 1936: 283) and that ‘my attention was directed to the countless mounds there of dimensions barely perceptible except on waste recently cleared by fire’ suggesting perhaps that there were many more of these mounds than he himself dug into. Unfortunately there are no traces of any of these sites that Carter excavated visible today and furthermore there are no published details indicating any of their exact locations. Carter published more or less detailed descriptions of the excavations of five of these mounds (numbering them, respectively Woodbury AA6, QL, P, N and W) and one or two line notes on five others (Woodbury AA2- AA5 and AA8) (Carter 1936: 283-91). One of these mounds (AA6) was located about near the south-east corner of the plantation 300 yards south of Four Firs and another (QL) about 100 yards to the north-east of AA6. The AA6 mound was about 5m in diameter and 30 cm high, It was lunate in form with a shallow hollow completing one side. The excavations revealed various forms of pebble patterns at three different levels of both the mound and the hollow including a ring and other geometric forms such as zig-zag lines, small paved areas and pebble cairns. One of these was over what was interpreted to be a fire pit. In the middle level of the centre of the hollow ‘a red pebble was found overlying a cluster comprising a white quartzite pebble, a chip of blue stone and a worked flint flake’ (Carter 1936: 284). Woodbury QL was circular in form with a diameter of 5 m and a height of 0.6 m. Stripping the mound of vegetation Carter interpreted the patterning of pebbles on its surface as representing a bird (Fig 4).
Figure 4. Plan of the surface of the mound QL on Woodbury Common Source: Carter 193
According to him the excavations showed that the original ground surface had been dug to a depth of about 0.4 m, the spoil replaced and paving laid on its surface. On top of the paving there was a sand layer defined by lines of pebbles set about 3m apart curving inward at the north-east end. A small cairn about 1m in diameter and 20cm high enclosing a single large blue stone (see Blue stones) had been built in the centre of the platform (Carter 1936: 283-86). There is no trace of Woodbury AA6 and QL today. Much of the immediate area has been subsequently bulldozed to create wide trackways and the plantations that existed in Carter’s day have been replanted. On Aylesbeare Common just to the north and down-slope from the two ridge-top barrows (Fig. 1: 8-9) Carter discovered a series of twenty-two mounds after swaling. Two of these were described as 'keyhole' mounds (because they resembled a key hole in form). They consisted of a rectangular mound about 3m long, 2m wide and less than 10cm high, narrowing in the middle, and attached to a circular platform about 4 m in diameter (Carter 1938: 92). Others seem to resemble double headed ceremonial axes in form (see Fig. 5).
Figure 5. One of the pebbled pavements Carter excavated on Aylesbeare Common Source: Carter Archive
He reports that under Aylesbeare 1 a pit had been excavated under the circular platform to a depth of about 1 m. 'The floor had been smoothed, pebbles laid thereon in some pattern, and prolonged fires burnt on the floor, the ashes of which had been swept to the sides, where they had hardened into a heavy cement' (ibid: 92). There was no charcoal. Many of the other mounds examined by Carter on Aylesbeare Common covered layers of ash, small pebble cairns, arrangements or patterns of pebbles, pits and bluestones. Some were on spring lines (ibid: 94). He also reports that in low marshy ground south-east of barrow 16 (a mound still exists in this location) ‘a spring had been carefully paved with pebbles…a cairn had been erected over it and the whole enclosed in a large mound’. There was a flint flake in the cairn and below it on the pavement ‘a beautiful sacramental flint’. What Carter's excavations seem to reveal is a whole series of unique pebble structures some of which like those on Aylesbeare Common were in close proximity to Bronze Age barrows and possibly connected with the ceremonies taking place at them although he himself claimed (ignoring evidence to the contrary such as the beaker sherds in the Woodbury e barrow) that they were of later Iron Age date. There appears to be a concern with: 1. arranging pebbles in geometric patterns 2. creating pebble pavements 3. grading pebbles according to size 4. selecting pebbles of different colours 5. constructing small pebble cairns underneath mounds 6. arranging these cairns and pebble pavements to relate to important cardinal directions, in particular the rising and setting of the sun on the solstices and equinoxes 7. The association of these pebble mounds with fire and burning (Tilley n.d.). These pebble structures are not monumental and there are certainly many more to be discovered across the Pebble Bed heathlands. The character of the vegetation on heathlands today with the gorse sometimes growing to over 2m in height and elsewhere the dense heather cover makes the possibility of discovering any further pebble structures today rather difficult in the absence of widesprerad swaling, a common practice in the recent historic past, which permitted Carter's own discoveries. Today swaling is of very limited extent and is infrequent. Some areas of the heathlands do not appear to have been swaled for fifty years or more.
The antiquity of the pebble mounds
The absence of modern excavation and secure dating evidence makes the exact status of these mounds somewhat enigmatic. Carter’s published descriptions and plans are very difficult to interpret. It is unclear, for example, which pebbles he chose to record, and both the plans and sections appear impressionistic. Precisely what he meant by the term ‘bluestone’ is far from obvious (see Blue stones). The manner in which the excavations were undertaken and documented are obviously inadequate by contemporary standards. One of his excavations that of the mound Woodbury w was examined in the presence of Sir Cyril Fox, one of the leading prehistorians of his generation, who was dubious with regard to its antiquity (Carter 1936: 287). This was no doubt partly due to the uniqueness of the structure. There were (and are) simply no archaeological examples known of anything similar in Britain and they are probably unique in Europe. Fox’s scepticism is repeated in the Devon Sites and Monuments Records and in the National Monuments Records. It has been variously suggested in these reports that some of these mounds might be modern tree mounds. Others have been attributed to the possible activities of the troops of General Simcoe who were stationed on the Pebble Bed heathlands during the Napeolonic wars in 1803 or even as a result of more recent military activity. So we are left with the possibility that these mounds may either be fairly recent, or of genuinely prehistoric and probably Bronze Age date. In support of the second proposition the following points may be noted: 1. Carter recorded no modern finds 2. He found flint flakes in some of the mounds he excavated 3. An interest in pebbles and pebble patterns and the colours of pebbles is attested by Carter’s excavation of a Bronze Age cairn with beaker sherds. 4. Many of the pebble mounds occur in the vicinity of barrows of indisputable Bronze Age antiquity. 5. We do not appear to have any records of precisely where Simcoe’s troops were stationed on the heathlands or what they were doing and why they might have constructed mounds with elaborate pebble patterns. Here it should be noted that some of the landscaping mounds along the Woodbury to Bicton road have also been suggested to be the result of Simcoe’s troops despite the fact that they appear on old Ordnance Survey maps prior to their arrival. The nature and activities of more modern military training activities on the heathlands is similarly obscure and unrecorded.
Mounds on Colaton Raleigh Common
Carter noted that ‘on the eastern edge of the Common in Colaton Raleigh parish…one finds mounds, pebbled and unpebbled, overlooking two sites marked by wet moats, and another mound with a pond-like depression on its north side’ (Carter 1936: 289). He suggested that investigation of some of these might throw further light on the form and character of the pebble mounds but did not undertake any excavations. Field investigators comments dated 15 July 1953 reported in the National Monuments Records (NMR number SY08NE1) state that ‘eighteen mounds from 3 to 9m in diameter and 0.2 to 0.5 m in height were seen in the area centered at SY 0562 8839 but others may lie under the thick growth of fern and heather.’ Almost forty years later field investigators comments dated 1 September 1989 state that ‘no trace was found of these mounds despite an extensive search. The area is under heather and gorse growing to a height of 0.6m in places. Although this vegetation could have hidden some of the mounds, it seems unusual for all to elude re-discovery’. Recent field research undertaken by Tilley in December 2007 has led to the re-discovery of four mounds in this area. One appears to be a circular mound 1m in diameter and 0.3m high. Another is much larger and more complex in form but largely obscured by a dense cover of brambles. The third may well be a low Bronze Age barrow (approx. 11 m in diameter and 0.3m high) and the fourth is the mound with the pond-like depression on its north side referred to by Carter. There are also possible traces of other mounds requiring further investigation. All the four mounds mentioned above were only possible to discover because of fieldwork being undertaken during the winter, when the vegetation is at its lowest, and because parts of this area have been kept open largely as a result of recent military activity. Parts of this area are covered with dense bramble and gorse growth up to 2m high precluding further discoveries without its removal. The probable Bronze Age barrow occurs on a local high point with the land dropping away in all directions from it. This replicates typical locations of other known Bronze Age barrows on the Pebble Bed heathlands. Two of the small mounds occur somewhat lower down a slope a few hundred metres to the south. This situation duplicates that of the high locations of the two large Bronze Age barrows on Aylesbeare Common with the pebble mounds excavated by Carter being located down-slope from them, in this case to the north. Besides this area with mounds and a probable barrow other sites occur to the south-west. These include a well preserved ditchless bowl barrow 11m in diameter and 1.2 m high situated in the centre of a spur between valleys at SY0560 8796 (NMR number SY08 NE3; Devonshire SMR SY08NE037) (Fig 1: no 12). This is a scheduled monument. A few hundred metres to the south of it three low mounds have been recorded (Figs 1 and 6: 13-15) and two others, again in the centre of another spur between valleys 350 m distant to the south-west (Fig. 1 and 6: 10-11). The vegetation in this area today consists of dense furze and heather and there may well be a series of other mounds in the vicinity of these yet to be discovered. Such is the density of this vegetation cover today that only one of mounds 13-15 can currently be located on the ground with any certainty at present (subsequent cutting of the vegetation allowed all three mounds to be located in April 2008). Aims and Objectives Carter’s excavations provide us with a tantalising glimpse of what may be a whole series of small and complex pebble structures associated with larger and more monumental Bronze Age barrows, but as noted above there remains uncertainty with regard to their date and purpose. Since his work in the 1930s there has been no systematic programme of field research in this area of east Devon. The aim of this project is an attempt to resolve the problem of the date of construction of these mounds and their significance within a broader cultural landscape. This will involve archival research, intensive and systematic fieldwalking and geophysical survey, where appropriate, palaeoenvironmental analysis and excavation of some of the mounds on Colaton Raleigh common and elsewhere. Fieldwalking and geophysical survey Initially this will be concentrated on the eastern side of Colaton Raleigh Common in an area of about 1km sq. in order to locate other possible barrows and mounds in addition to those mentioned above and produce a detailed topographic map and phenomenological description of the landscape. This fieldwalking and survey will be undertaken outside the bird nesting season in order to minimize disturbance to wildlife (see Fig 6).
Figure 6. The Excavation site and survey area
In 2008 mound 13 was partly excavated and a 2x2 m test trench in the natural (see Excavations 2008 pages) The five aims of this excavation were to: • Examine in detail the morphology, construction and composition of the mound. • Identify patterning in the choice and arrangement of pebbles in relation to colour, size and dimensions. • Recover evidence of dating through associated artefacts and/or dateable deposits. • Examine evidence of activity in close association with the mound (artefact deposition, presence of small sub-surface cairns, cut-features etc. • Recovery of materials for environmental sampling from any sealed contexts.
References Published sources Carter, G.E. L. (1936) ‘Unreported mounds on Woodbury Common’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Exploration Society 2: 283-94 Carter, G.E. L. (1938) ‘The pebbled mounds of Aylesbeare Common”, Proceedings of the Devon Archaerological Explorastion Society 3: 92-7 Cooper, A. (2007) East Devon Pebblebed Heaths, Exeter: East Devon Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust Grinsell, L. (1983) ‘The barrows of south and east Devon’, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 41: 5-46. Unpublished sources Tilley, C. (n.d.) ‘From sensory experience to the cosmological domain on the East Devon Pebble Beds’ To appear in C. Tilley Interpreting Landscapes: Geologies, Topographies, Identities, Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA. Book manuscript in preparation. Devon County Council Sites and Monuments Records National Monuments Records. English Heritage, Swindon
